I am a Senior Political Contributor at Forbes and the official 'token lefty,' as the title of the page suggests. However, writing from the 'left of center' should not be confused with writing for the left as I often annoy progressives just as much as I upset conservative thinkers. In addition to the pages of Forbes.com, you can find me every Saturday morning on your TV arguing with my more conservative colleagues on "Forbes on Fox" on the Fox News Network and at various other times during the week serving as a liberal talking head on other Fox News and Fox Business Network shows. I also serve as a Democratic strategist with Mercury Public Affairs.

Peyton Manning, Papa John's Pizza And The NFL-Will The NFL Drop Papa John's As An NFL Official Sponsor Over Obamacare?

I admire the hard working players who go out there and play hard each and every week during the season—giving up their bodies and their talent in an effort to deliver their best for the hometown crowd along with the working-class fan base that has made the NFL what it is today.

That is why I find it so upsetting that Papa John’s—the pizza company that will soon provide many of its employees with far more time to watch football thanks to a plan to reduce employee work hours in the effort to avoid the company’s responsibilities under the Affordable Care Act—is the official pizza sponsor of the NFL.

Think about this for a moment.

Our uniquely American game—one that has grown into an empire on the backs of the hard working players and the loyal, American working men and women who love and support the game—is in league with a company that appears ready to throw some of those same dedicated fans, and their families, under a bus so that Papa John’s can drop a few more dollars to the company’s bottom line.

The cost of Papa John’s professed fealty to its shareholders at the expense of its employees?

These workers, who typically earn too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to afford health insurance for their families on what Papa John’s pays them, will find themselves facing a fourth down and long without a play to call when a member of that family faces a serious illness.

But it’s not just these employees who are being left to run a passing route with no ball ever coming their way.

Other fans of the NFL—people like you and I who pay our already expensive monthly premiums for our family’s health insurance needs—will be left to pick up the tab for Papa John’s employees when they show up in the emergency room because they have no other option for their care. That means that Papa John’s will make more money at my expense, despite the fact that I have never set foot in a Papa John’s restaurant nor ordered up one of their pizzas. This means that I will personally be subsidizing Papa John’s profits without ever once becoming a customer—as will a great many of you—because this pizza company is willing to shirk its responsibilities in favor of letting you and me pay the bill.

Is this really the type of company the NFL wants besmirching its reputation by permitting them to be an official sponsor? What coach would ever preach to his players that they should get out of the way of an oncoming rush and allow a teammate to take the hit rather than stepping up and doing the job that is the player’s responsibility?

On the day the alliance between the National Football League and Papa John’s was announced, it was also disclosed that Denver quarterback and future Hall-of-Famer, Peyton Manning, had become the owner of 21 Papa John’s locations in the Denver area. Manning additionally serves as a spokesperson for the pizza chain—featured in a television commercial wherein he encourages CEO John Schnatter to give away two million free pizzas. Note that the cost of the give-away promotion far exceeds the burden of providing the affected employees with health care benefits.

Like most football fans, I love Peyton Manning.

When he faced his career ending neck surgery, I was rooting hard for him to make it back to the game. And while I have never been a Denver Broncos supporter, I have made it a point this year to tune in to watch almost every Denver game just to add my measure of support for Manning’s comeback effort and to see his progress as he works hard to regain the form that has made him one of the all-time greats at the quarterback position.

I’ve been there for Peyton Manning. Now, I would like to ask Peyton to do something for me.

More specifically, I would like Peyton Manning to do something for all the hard working Americans that have been there to support him and the NFL, thereby allowing Peyton to earn a great and well-deserved living.

I would like Mr. Manning to return the favor by announcing that his Papa John’s franchise operations will not be cutting back on its employee hours and that his restaurants will gladly comply with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. I want Peyton to tell us that he will personally see to it that the people who work for him at his 21 stores will each receive their health care benefits.

Guys like Peyton Manning lead by example—and I can imagine no better example than his standing up for the working men and women who have always been there to support him, the game and the National Football League. If Peyton Manning will come forward to do the right thing, just watch as other Papa John’s franchise owners follow his lead.

On a separate note, I have been interested by the number of commenters responding to my article of this past week discussing Papa John’s efforts—along with some other franchise restaurant operations—to avoid giving health care benefits to their employees. It seems that many of these readers are sympathetic to these businesses because they believe that providing healthcare benefits to their employees is just not something these companies can afford to do without damaging their businesses, despite the millions in profit that many of these operations rake in each year.

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Papa John was small business once upon a time, and I doubt he could have gotten away with treating his employees badly back when he needed them to have any success at all. While the difficulties of small businesses incorporating Obamacare makes me sympathetic, the article is not about them. It’s about a man who is not fairly sharing profits with his employees.

Hostess is in the same league–questionable management practices, that eventually brought the company down. Yet, the Little Debbie brand of snack cakes provides profit sharing to its employees, and medical, and they are not going out of business. Screwing your employees is not a requirement for success. I hear over and over that business “must” behave as Papa John’s does in order to survive. I disagree.

We are watching established patterns disintegrate throughout society. “Business as usual” is one I welcome seeing come to an end. People are making more choices based on the ethics of the production of products. This trend will continue.

Also, let us compare Costco to Walmart/Sam’s Club. One treats its employees like serfs, the other doesn’t

Guess what? I much prefer shopping at Costco, because the stores are nicer, the employees are friendlier and more helpful, and the stuff they sell seems to be of a better quality, especially the house brand.

The issue here goes far beyond the feasibility of Obamacare compliance — I’m sure I wouldn’t be the first to break it to you; but the key dilemma here is principle, i.e. the principle of requiring small businesses (many of which are start-up) to absorb the cost of health care for every one of its employees…How can you justify that burden, especially when many companies simply cannot afford such provisions?

Tell me, Austin, if this is about the principle of requiring small businesses to absorb this cost, how do you explain the following:

1. Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from Obamacare. Accordingly, that start up you reference, unless they start up with a pretty darn large employee base, really doesn’t have this problem.

2. If it is principle that concerns you, and I’m totally good with that, maybe you will weigh in on how Papa John putting the burden of paying for his employees’ health care on my shoulders is a principled move? And that is what is happening. When his uninsured employees get sick and go the ER because that is the only place they can go, who do you imagine pays for this? Those of us who pay our monthly premiums for health insurance. The money lost by hospitals by treating uninsured Americans is passed on to those of us who do buy health insurance. So, Papa John shirks his responsibility for his own employees-the ones who drive his business and earn him his profits- and he leaves it to me to pay for those employees insurance. Do you believe that is the behavior of a principled company or person? I don’t.

And, either way, Peyton has little role in corporate compliance (or the lack thereof) with Obamacare; but I can assure you of one thing — you sure ain’t gonna do yourselves any favours by calling out arguably the G.O.A.T.

And, either way, Peyton has little role in corporate compliance (or the lack thereof) with Obamacare; but I can assure you of one thing — you sure ain’t gonna do yourselves any favours by exerting pressure on and calling out arguably the G.O.A.T…First of all, it’s tacky